Rhode Island GOP Caucus Offers Alternative to Toll Plan
Members of Rhode Island’s Republican Caucus in the House on June 15 announced they would look to shift $60 million from the state’s fiscal 2016 budget to repair bridges and other highway infrastructure.
Under the GOP plan, bridges in serious need of repairs would be fixed first. The plan is being offered as an amendment to the fiscal 2016 budget.
The General Assembly must pass a budget before the regular legislative session adjourns at the end of June.
Republican Rep. Patricia Morgan, who is deputy minority leader, told reporters her caucus opposes Gov. Gina Raimondo’s infrastructure plan because it “will hurt our economy; we think it costs too much.”
Several weeks ago, Raimondo (D) proposed RhodeWorks, a plan that would spend about $1 billion over 10 years to improve crumbling infrastructure. A significant funding component would be bridge tolls for tractor-trailer combination vehicles but not cars, buses, straight trucks or motorcycles.
American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves has called RhodeWorks: “Quite literally highway robbery.”
